Plastic Nev

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Rebecca, If it works OK with no problems on Internet explorer, then yes the computer looks to be OK, It is obviously a fault with Firefox. The simplest way round to try first is uninstall Firefox, then go to the Mozilla site and download and install the latest version of Firefox, see if that corrects the problem. Nev.

Everything looks OK now Jim, the file error repairs in the MFT look to be only minor faults but now corrected so all should be OK. If any faults had been major it would have asked for the Windows disk, which it didn't so no worries. Nev.

Hum, a classic wrong if you do and wrong if you don't situation. The only way forwards really is to try a reboot, if it fails, then we are back to disconnecting hardware, and or removing all but one RAM stick as previously suggested. If on the other hand it reboots just fine, then whatever it was has righted itself, and at this point with no idea what it was. Nev.

Hi Jim, Windows defender is OK but only a minor player really in the general malware and spyware defences, I also use "Malwarebytes" and "Superantispyware" and prefer them over the ordinary Windows Defender. Up to you of course but I recommend downloading and installing those two, and scan regularly with them. However as far as Defender is concerned, it may well be that a later update did install which either takes the place of or removes the need for the update KB931099. If a check for updates through defender says all is OK then I wouldn't worry any further about it. The important thing though, has removing that update resulted in better performance, which is the real issue. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, Two questions, Are you sure you have selected the CD/DVD drive as boot device? Second, are you also sure that drive is OK and working? If the answer to the first is a yes, for some reason the BIOS isn't seeing the CD/DVD drive. Can you also select a USB port as bootable device, if so, using another computer you could transfer the Dell disk contents to a thumb or pen drive and boot from that. You might find this helpful, from Jelly Bean= http://extremetechsupport.com/threads/10305-How-to-install-Windows-using-a-USB-Pen-Drive-and-WinToFlash. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, does the motherboard have the little post beep speaker fitted, if so any beeps? It sounds at face value like the BIOS isn't even starting up otherwise. Nev.

Good to have a nice big wide one, makes the telly look small, mine is a little bigger being 22 inch. Thanks for getting back and letting us know Jim. Nev.

Hi Jim, lets rule out the obvious first, do you have anything plugged in other than monitor, keyboard and mouse, such as external drive for example or a card in the reader (if it has one) or even a disk left in the disk drive. Nev.

Is that not a fan inside the round hole shown in the photo of the card? I personally don't know too much about graphics cards and certainly not that one, so not sure. I will ask one of our other people who may know a bit more. Nev.

First, your friend does have good point, unfortunately nothing lasts forever these days does it. Right, in general it is a yes, dual core means twice the processing ability, not necessarily speed directly, but with two cores the queue for information processing gets split to either core so more info gets processed in any given time, making things overall quicker. Same aplies of course for quad or six cores but those above quad do get expensive. As far as the PCIE slot, at least on those first two machines, it does say they are free, meaning on board graphics and sound, and not as plugged in cards. At the end of the day, I am no real CPU or graphics expert and only know the general aspects, but at the end of the day, you know what you want, and how much you can afford, so do have further thoughts about what else you can find, and if any further questions do come back, If I can't answer them someone else here will. Nev.

OK Ben, I suggest the adapter rout now rather than any further messing, at least that way, if you can access the files you need, then do so. If not it proves my suspicion the hard drive may have died. However we will deal with that if that happens. First off remove the drive and find out if it is the older IDE type, which I suspect it will be, or the newer SATA, IDE is the broad grey cable, and the drive will have jumper settings for master or slave. If SATA, it will be a smaller cable and no jumpers on the drive. That is so you know which type of adapter to get. Once all is connected and plugged into your laptop, it should recognise new hardware, and also should show up in My computer or if Vista or W7 Computer. You should also get the options window, if so choose to see the files and folders. Once that opens it should be a simple matter of copy to wherever you want on the laptop. Let us know how you get on and if any questions need answers. Nev.

Hi, Apology accepted, as I know these problems can be frustrating. I thought that might be the problem and is why I asked to check while actually playing the game. Is this your card?= http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_315_us.html Right, what to do next, first is to make sure that considering the card has a fan of its own, that the fan is working, also no dust trapped under that fan or in the shroud round it. You may find the shroud can be unclipped, or unscrewed for better access to the fan and the airways round it. Some can, some can't unfortunately. If it is clean, and still getting that hot, it may well be showing up some fault in the heat sink and the thermally conductive paste between the heatsink and the graphics processor chip. Check that it is tightly mounted to the chip. Let us know what you find, and hopefully it is only dust under the shroud. Oh, and to put your mind at rest, those voltages look to be OK, so we can hopefully rule out the power supply. Nev.

Hi, OK, the graphics seems a little high but not worryingly so at 73C I assume these readings were taken some time after boot up and while running a game? I am going off for the night but hopefully someone may take this further, however it may be useful to show us also the voltages that Speccy can show, though those are not always reliable, again it may give a clue for someone else. To see those voltages click on the "motherboard" in the left hand list. Pleas do not PM asking for further attention, remember we are all volunteers doing this in our free time. We do have another life to lead, though help will be offered as and when we can be available to do so. Nev.

A quite informative page about where to find recent alerts of the various scams and frauds running round. Have a look here= http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stay-top-latest-online-fraud-alerts-6-websites/

Hi, can you please post a screen shot of the Speccy window, other things shown in that might give a clue. Nev.

Hi Ben, if you mean the first screen of safe mode, try first selecting "Last known good configuration" see if that will allow boot up, if not try safe mode, if it works in safe mode it is a start, let us know please. Nev.

Yes, I understand what you mean, I was only thinking that with only one slot on the mother board and you use that for a graphics card, you have no further upgrade path if say you require a sound card for example as well. 64bit though is the way to go, it is quicker and if it has W7 installed, providing the mother board will support it, you can also go up on the RAM too. I still think the first is the best of the two though. Nev.

50 C is not bad and for most graphics cards reasonably cool, let us know how you go on and if you find much dust clogging heatsink fins. Nev.

Hi, You have looked in device manager, are you sure there are no red or yellow marks against Universal Serial Bus Controllers? Did your friend open up or otherwise go inside your computer? it may be he removed connections and forgot to put them back, check by turning off the power, remove the cover, touch the case to kill any static, then check all connections, assuming this is a desktop and not a laptop machine. Nev.

Hi Bendavies and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. There could be quite a few reasons for this failure to load or boot up with many things to be tried. The simplest one is to replace the so called CMOS battery, that is what powers the BIOS, without which it will behave like yours does if that battery is completely dead. It is located on the motherboard and is around the size of a UK ten pence piece, make sure the replacement goes in the right way up, so check before removing the old one. If that doesn't work, and all you want is to retrieve the data from it, you can remove the hard drive, (providing it is not the hard drive faulty) and using an adapter to USB, connect it to you present computer and copy over all that you need. (same as using a flash or thumb drive) Let us know how you get on and which way you want to go from here. Nev.

Well, I tend to agree as the first does have more RAM, however a little disappointing that both of them seem to only have one PCIE 16 slot, as I think you may find that with the graphics based programs and game, you may need a decent graphics card, especially if that one that went pop isn't repairable. (I would be having a try, just remember to check and replace the old capacitor with the new one, is the same polarity when fitted) Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. Overheating is the most common cause of a full shutdown like this, so please download, install, and run Speccy from here= http://www.piriform.com/speccy Take note of what the temperatures are when first started, then play the game and take note after say ten minutes what the temperatures are then and let us know. Is this PC a desktop or laptop? If desktop, have you looked inside and cleaned out any dust or dirt build up? Nev.

You could try the "Lets go for a meal out" program about twenty minutes before East Enders starts, be warned it can be expensive!! However if you get the "After East Enders" reply, forget it. Nev.

Hi, that actually is a good picture of what can happen, like Ken, I also have done it deliberately too. However, there is a chance of rescue if you or someone you know is good with a soldering iron, as that capacitor can be replaced and hopefully not have done further damage in its blowing. It is unlikely that it blew due to anything you had done or program started or running, some of these capacitors are well known for being badly made and using the wrong electrolyte, it would have blown anyway. Nev.

The clocks go back next week, my problem is, I can't remember where I got them from. A friend got arrested for kicking a policeman, he had been out for a meal and his wife told him it was his turn to foot the bill.